Guitar Glossary

With this glossary of guitar terms you can find the definition to most of the common guitar and music related terms you’ll come across. We’ve added links to lessons and more detailed content for many of the terms.

Alternate Tuning – tuning the strings of the guitar to notes other than those of standard tuning. More on alternate tuning in Alternate Tuning and Guitar Tuning FAQ.

Alternating Bass – type of strum played like the “boom-chuck” but differing in that the root note in the bass note is played on the first beat only and another note (usually the fifth of the chord) played on the third beat. More on alternating bass in Margaritaville – Easy Song for Beginner Lesson.

Augmented Chord – one of the four basic chord types, made up of the root, major third and augmented fifth degrees of the major scale. More on augmented chords in Augmented Diminished Dementia.

B

Bar – also called a “measure;” a distinct measurement of beats, which is dictated by the time signature; the end of a bar is indicated by a vertical line running through the staff or bass guitar tablature lines. More on bars in Standard Notation.

Barre Chords – chords that are formed by placing the index flat across the strings at a single fret to play some notes while the other fingers fret others higher up on the neck. Fretting across all six strings is called a “full barre” and fretting between two and five strings is called a “half barre.” More on barre chords in Barre Chords (Part 1 – Forming and Playing) and Barre Chords (Part 2 – Shapes).

Bend – a guitar slur technique, pushing a string along the fingerboard toward the center of the neck to raise its pitch from one note to that of another note. More on bends in Tricks of the Trade.

Circle Of Fifths – a pattern that can be used to study the relationship of keys to one another; also an excellent tool for practicing scales, riffs or phrases in all keys. More on circle of fifths in The Circle of Fifths.

Classical Guitar – a guitar with nylon strings, usually slightly smaller than an acoustic guitar. More on classical guitars in Buying a Guitar FAQ.

Common Time – the symbol “C” used as a time signature; another name for “4 / 4″ time. More on common time in Keeping Time and Standard Notation.

Dynamics – changes in volume or tempo while playing. More on dynamics in Song Dynamics.

E

Economic Picking – playing with a pick, using downstrokes on the lowest three strings and upstrokes on the three highest strings.

Eighth Note – a note of a half a beat’s duration. More on eighth notes in Standard Notation.

Eighth Note Rest – a rest of a half a beat’s duration. More on eighth note rests in Standard Notation.

Electric Guitar – a guitar requiring amplification to be heard. Most electric guitars have solid bodies but there are hollow body and semi-hollow body electric guitars as well. More on electric guitars in Acoustic vs. Electric and Buying a Guitar FAQ.

F

Fill – A short musical phrase that fills a space in the music. Similar to riffs except that riffs are usually repeated note by note while fills usually are different each time. More on fills in All Down The Line.

Hybrid Picking – style of guitar playing in which the guitarist uses a pick (held with the thumb and index finger) to play notes on the three low strings and uses the middle, ring and pinky fingers to play notes on the three high strings. More on hybrid picking in Finger Picking for Guitar Lessons.

Measure – also called a “bar;” a distinct measurement of beats, which is dictated by the time signature; the end of a measure is indicated by a vertical line running through the staff or bass guitar tablature lines. More on measures in Keeping Time and Standard Notation.

Minor Chord – one of the four basic chord types, made up of the root, minor third and perfect fifth degrees of the major scale. More on minor chords in Theory Without Tears.

Modes – a scale created by taking a major scale and beginning on a note other than the root and going through the steps of the scale until reaching the starting note again. There are seven modes: Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian and Locrian. More on modes in Theory Without Tears.

Nut – notched strip of hard plastic, bone or other material located between the neck and the headstock on the guitar’s fingerboard.

O

Octave – an interval of eight named notes from the root note, always bearing the same name as the root note.

Open Tuning – tuning the strings of the guitar so that they create an easily identifiable chord when strummed without any stings being fretted. For example, strumming the open strings of a guitar tuned to Open G tuning will sound a G major chord. More on open tuning in Open Tuning.

P

Pick – also called “plectrum,” a hard flat piece of material (usually plastic) used to strike the strings instead of a finger of the right hand. More on pick and plectrums in Why I Don’t Use a Plectrum.

Power Chords – also known as “5″ chords, as in “C5″ for example, technically, are not chords. They are simply dyads, a two-note interval composed of the root note and the fifth note of the major scale. Because there is no third, the sound of a power chord is neither major nor minor. It’s ambiguous, if you will, or simply undefined. However, when you play a power chord on an electric guitar with the distortion cranked up on the amplifier, you generate many overtones that give this neutral “5″ chord more depth and tonal color. Guitar Noise has a primer to help you understand and form any power chord you want in several different ways: Power Chords – Music 101.

Swing Eighths – playing eighth notes as the first and last of a set of triplets (as opposed to “straight eighths”). More on swing eighths in Swing Eighths.

Syncopation – Notes that fall on the offbeats. More on syncopation in Keeping Times.

T

Tablature – a system of reading music involving six horizontal lines (indicating the strings of the guitar) and numbers (indicating which frets to play in order to sound the notes). More on tablature in Guitar Tab FAQ.

Tie – an arced line connecting two notes of the same pitch, adding the time value of the second note to the first; a whole note tied to a half note will last for six beats. More on ties in Standard Notation.

Time Signature – usually indicated by a fraction at the start of a piece of music, the time signature will tell you how many beats each measure receives (the upper number of the fraction) and which type of note is designated as a single beat (the lower number). More on time signatures in Time Signatures – Bass for Beginners Lesson #17.